Mass Effect Andromeda: After Peace
by DragoGuardian
Summary: A human boy called Aaron Kaine grew up on Meridian after being transferred from Eos, he makes a quick friend, a Salarian. They take on the world together until they run into two individuals who will test their friendship for years to come. It's not until after graduation that a new enemy threatens the Helius cluster, they will have to come together to defeat this new enemy.
1. Life Still Isn't Fair

**Hello everyone I'm Drago and I'm new to this whole thing but it's something I wanted to get into, if I'm missing something please let me know, here's the disclaimer. I don't own anything from mass effect except my OC's, with that let's start the story**

1000 years after the awakening of the first human pathfinder, the Galaxy of Andromeda has become everything the initiative dreamed it would be, outposts became colonies, which became cities. Every world was filled with life and prosperity. Since the defeat of the Kett, the races of not only the Milky Way travelers, but the Angara too have inhabited these new worlds, as their numbers have grown.

Our story starts on the Remnant construct of Meridian, in a school called Ryder Elementary. A human and Salarian child are walking home, keeping their heads down and eyes peeled for the trouble they knew was coming their way. The races themselves have lived in harmony for centuries, but children will be children. The human, 8 year old Aaron Kaine and Salarian 9 year old Fostan Nuzu, have been friends since Aaron's parents were transferred from Eos to Meridian for his father's work.

The two boys stopped as they knew they were in trouble when they saw two figures walk out a few feet ahead of them in an alleyway. A Turian and Krogan, both just a year ahead of them and both girls. The Turian was Actina Marcenis, her father Caivus Marcenis was the instructor for the Meridian Enforcer Academy. Each planet had one, but the way it was built, it looked more like a base. She was already tall, even at ten years old the Krogan child beside her was Tersan Heska, best friend of Actina and daughter of the schools principal. The two older girls approached the boys with a hungry look on their face, like they were about to chew these boys and spit them out.

Actina was first to spit an insult "you know for a race brimming with smarts, you'd think they would have fixed whole not living past 40 years thing" Tersan piped in, getting behind the human child "And after this long you'd think humans would grow a thicker skin, literally!" She pushed the boy down and kept pushing till he was lying face into the dirt she pointed out a scrape on his bloody elbow "Man, how do you manage to keep that stuff inside you in the fist place?" A shop keeper saw this and opened his door, yelling and approaching the girls "Hey! That's enough of that!" This startled the girls and they ran in separate directions.

The strange man helped the boy to his feet, to Aaron's surprise, it was another Turian. Usually Turians are known for their militaristic and disciplined way of living, some go into the research field and fewer chose to farm or sell wares. "Go on home guys, that's enough excitement for one day" the man says. The child nods and thanks the stranger "Thank you mister!" The human boy looks back, and waves, it's the last time he will see that man.

As the years went on, Aaron and Fostan grew apart as Fostan went on to advanced classes, and was stuck with Actina and Tersan, they sat behind and beside him just to make life hard on him. Tersan made sure to be on team opposite of Aaron when it came to contact sports in Physical Education, she enjoyed being superior to everyone, especially him, he never figured out why though. Actina stopped paying attention to them, focusing on her studies. The time came when all of them had to choose a career choice, Aaron and Fostan were outside the bathroom talking about the big day.

"You're going for captain right? You wanted to travel around the universe right?" Aaron asks, their dream was to serve on the same ship and make up for lost time, they didn't hang out much since Fostan's parents died. He kept to himself for about four years, he came to the conclusion that "a tenth of my life was spent moping around, and over a fourth of it is over, I have to move on if I want to live as much life as my parents did." That was three years ago, they were seventeen now, Fostan would be eighteen in another two months, almost of legal age to start flying.

"Of course, I hope you still have a passion for adventure as well, pathfinder?" This was a joke between the two, the initiative had been replaced by the Settlement. And there were no more pathfinders, due to everything already being discovered. All Aaron would talk about when he was younger was how cool it would've been to be a pathfinder, discovering a new home for all those who left everything behind. Now there are Strike team Captains who call the shots against pirates and outlaws. "Real talk though, you really want to be a striker?" This was a term used for a member of a strike team. Actina overheard the conversation as she was walking by, she turned and looked at Aaron.

"You're not serious, right? I know you're weak, but I didn't think you were stupid too. You won't last five minutes out in space, stay here where it's safe and you might make to adulthood." With that she faces forward and walks away. Fostan nudges Aaron.

"Don't worry about it, you won't need a gun once you show them what you can do with biotics alone, you'll be a prime striker candidate" Aaron punched his friend in the arm "Hey! my brain is the only muscle I have, so take it easy!"

"I told you to keep my biotic training secret you big brained idiot!" Aaron said in a hushed and slightly irritated voice. Fostan looked at him.

"I'm aware of you're concern but it wouldn't hurt for certain people to know you're not as weak as they think"

"Let them think what they want, they're not entirely wrong though, I do need to get stronger. It'll take time but I'll get there." An announcement over the intercom started playing, it was the principal.

"All students report to class for career choosing, anyone not in attendance will get whatever is left over." The two looked at each other before racing down the hall to get to their classroom, hopeful they'll serve on the same ship like they always wanted.

 **Thank you for reading, I didn't want to continue the Ryder story because the game is too new and we don't know how far the single player campaign will go, that and I always wanted to create my own mass effect story and Sheppard's timeliness didn't appeal to me as much. anyway that's chapter one, got a couple days off so I'll be working on it, thanks again and I'll see you guys soon! (also it's my first time doing something like this so any _helpful_ criticism is welcome)**


	2. The Trial

**Hey guys, I got a review and I appreciate the help, hope you enjoy the next chapter. Just like before I don't own anything of Mass Effect, except my OC's**.

 _The Trial_

Fostan and Aaron sat quietly in their classroom. Fostan already tried out for the captain position, it was Aaron's turn to enter the simulation room. Aaron was nervous, scared of whether his biotic powers were enough, or if he should stuck with his firearm training, and if he did what if his nerves affected his accuracy. He was able to create a sheild, lift and push objects at will, his only limitation was he couldn't sustain these powers consistently for over 30 seconds.

His name was called, his heart sank to his stomach as he rose and walked towards the front of the classroom, waiting at the door till it slides open, the room beyond was dark except for a spotlight positioned in the center of the room. He approached the starting platform and the door closed, slamming shut and twenty bars lock it in place. A weapon rack raises from a hole in the floor, giving him the choice of a pistol, shotgun, assault rifle, sniper rifle, or omniblade. without thinking he chose to use an omniblade.

every student was given an omnitool at the beginning of the school year but disabled the weaponry capabilities, only way to weaponize it again was at the career tryouts. A camera records the simulation of each candidate and sent to the head of each job administrator.

The voice of an AI echoed through the room "you have chosen to take your test with a melee weapon, for this excersizse you will be required to neutralize every enemy or survive for 5 minutes without being hit by the enemy. Your trial begins in 3 seconds...2...1...begin simulation" red lights scattered the ceiling, before changing to yellow, the surroundings transformed into a Kett warship.

Realistic Kett soldiers littered the room, it didn't take long for them to start firing at the boy, he took cover and froze, he'd never been in such a stressful situation. The virtual Kett moved closer, two in particular got his attention when they walked out from behind his cover. Without thinking or hesitation he pushed them into the wall using his biotic powers, the defeated Kett exploded into red code before disappearing, he was in survival mode now, all reason flew out the window. He had exactly thirty seconds before the use of his biotic energy drained him, he stood up and expanded his arms, creating a sheild and running at the Kett while letting out a battle cry. The use of biotics by humans was a rare sight, not many human children develop this talent while in the womb, the numbers dropped from one in ten, to one in one hundred thousand. Aaron was never given amplifiers to enhance these skills, even his parents do not know he has biotic abilities.

He had little more than twenty seconds left, he concentrated on maintaining his sheild with his left hand while he lifted various objects into the air and squashed the enemy with everything from barricades, to resource crates. Five seconds, three hostiles. Aaron pulled one into the air and slammed him into another, seeing his chance he dropped his sheild, pulled another towards him and drove the omniblade through the enemies throat.

The final kett disappeared into code and the AI's voice echoed once more "All Kett combatants have been neutralized, congratulations" the environment he had just destroyed faded until he alone again in the black room. Aaron fell to his knees and looked up at the light until that too was nothing but darkness, he fell backwards and laid motionless in the dark.

Aaron awoke in a well lit room, the material he was laying on was well padded and smooth, it took a moment or two for his eyes to adjust to the lighting. He sat up and held his head. "Man that hurts...where am I?" he asked himself, his vision still blurred. he heard a familiar voice beside him.

"You're in the school infirmary, you really are stupid huh?" it was Actina, of course, he saw the grey face with red markings. They split up students based on gender instead of race, and the females start about an hour before the males, makes sense why they both went around the same time. "The trial was easy, so when I heard you fainted I had to see it for myself, unfortunately they had _me_ carry you down here. But I heard you used biotics? I've never seen you wear an amplifier before, if that's true, and you're using that power without the right equipment or training, you'll end up dead out there. The nurse told me to give you these when you woke up." She held two small nodes in her hand. "Pretty cool huh? since I don't trust you enough to put them on yourself without imploding your already tiny brain, turn your head towards me."

"Has anyone ever told how how ride you are?" he looked at her and she placed the nodes on his temples.

"Every day, hope you can walk because I'm _not_ carrying you back up the stairs" She backed away a couple feet, just enough for him to have some space. Aaron turned and put both feet on the ground. "Take your time, better I stand here than sit in a classroom for another 30 minutes waiting for-" She was cut off by the school alarmalarm and the emergency lights flashed red. the principal's voice thundered over the intercom.

"Attention all students, pirates are attacking the school, remember procedure and lock yourselves in whatever room you're in, if you're not in a room now, you have one minute to get there. This is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill!" The sound of a shotgun being loaded was heard briefly before the principal stopped the intercom. Aaron looked over to Actina.

"I don't think we're going anywhere..." The door locked itself shut, keeping the pirates out and the students in.

 **Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the second chapter. If you have any constructive criticism or feedback for me I'd love to hear how I can get better. Thanks again so much for reading and I'll see you in the next one!**


	3. New Enemy

**Hey guys it's Drago, I hope you enjoy reading this story just as much as I enjoy writing it. Here's chapter three, hope you like it! I don't own anything of Mass Effect except my OC's, with that let's start the story.**

 _New Enemy_

It's been an hour since the doors locked themselves. Aaron has taken this time to rest before exercising his mind, lifting small items before living the bed he was laying on with his biotics. Actina stood in the corner of the room looking at the floor, spacing out was an understatement, she stared and stared as if that one tile was the only thing left in the world. She finally broke the silence plaguing the room. "This is all a joke right? What would a bunch of pirates be raiding a school for?" Aaron thought it over for a second.

"Honestly I don't a see a good reason to attack a school, It's not like we have an abundance of food, we do have a lot of office supplies but that's about it...unless they aren't here for supplies" Actina looked at him.

"It's pirates, what else would they want?" Aaron saw a look he hadn't seen plastered on his classclassmates face before, a mixture of confusion and worry. Before he could say anything, his private comm opened and Fostan's voice followed.

"Aaron? can you hear me? I was 'given permission' to hack into the schools security system, you'll want to see this" Actina stood next to Aaron and looked over his shoulder.

"Send it over Fostan, it's good to hear form you" Aaron opened the video Fostan just sent him, the pirates were standing in front of a door. "What are they doing?"

"They're scanning the door?" The pirate had his omnitool out but the scanner wasn't activated. Fostan answered rather quickly.

"It's more likely they're scanning the room, I've been observing them and the scanner doesn't seem to be active because it isn't. The scan being performed in a third party location, it looks like the omnitool is acting as a locator and amplifier allowing for a scan of a small radius. Only question now is what are they looking for?"

"Maybe a deal gone wrong, they want to kidnap the cheapo's kid for ransom" Actina said half jokingly. A new voice came over Fostan's end.

"Maybe you're not far off, it's not a raid, so maybe they're looking for someone"

"That's the most likely conclusion Heska" Fostan said, a little annoyed the one listening in was the biggest mouth the Krogan student body can offer.

"I didn't know you could have good ideas Heska" Aaron chimed in, a shit eating grin on his face.

"I don't know how many times an arm can break but if I see you again we'll both find out Kaine" Heska shot back, showing her seriousness by using his last name. Actina broke in.

"Fostan, where are they now?"

"It's seems like they're moving rather quickly, they've cleared two and half hallways since I last checked fifteen minutes ago. They've cleared eighty four rooms in one hour and thirty minutes, they scanned our room and moved on like we weren't even here"

"How many are in the building?" Aaron asked, it didn't take long for his friend to respond.

"I counted thirty, there seems to be two designated from scanning, the rest are on patrols throughout the school"

"I'm just worried about what they'll do when they find who their looking for" said Actina, she moved away from Aaron to sit on the bed on the far side of the room. Aaron thanked Fostan and hung up. The nurse started passing out snacks from her supply closet. Aaron took the dehydrated fruit bar and thanked the nurse. When she came around to Actina, she put her hand up and told the nurse "I'm not really hungry right now, but thanks" the nurse nodded and left her. Aaron went over and sat beside her, he held the fruit bar up to her.

"Take it, you can't eat nothing all day. Besides, I've had three of these in the past hour and I always feel better after I've eaten something"

"Why do you care?"

"You brought me down here, so I owe you"

She growled "I don't want it" Actina got up and walked away muttering under her breath. Aaron placed the bar in his shirt pocket. Aaron was getting another call.

"Aaron, the pirates are outside your door, and it looks like they aren't scanning anymore. You have to get out of there" The door unlocked at that moment and opened, three humans stood in the doorway. One of them had red paint over her entire face.

"Everyone stay where they are and I promise bullets won't ricochet off the walls. We're here for two students, A human male and Turian Female, whole lot of humans, Asari, and salatians, but I only see one space turkey," She approaches Actina "You're coming with me, who'd you bring down with ya?" Actina stood there silently. "Grab one" said the woman, one of the brutish men grabbed an Asari and aimed an assault rifle to her right temple. Aaron stepped forward immediately.

"I'm the one she brought down" Actina looked at him. The woman smiled.

"Let her go" she said, the man pushed the Asari away and stood there. "good boy, now if you're smart you'll follow me to my ship, if not you'll be carried onto my ship. I sincerely hope you're a smart boy." She put a her right hand on his cheek. "You've got a pretty face, I'd hate to fuck it up." The woman took her hand away. "Let's go, wrap it up." The body guards intructed them to put thier hands behind their backs, they reluctantly obyed. The two men trapped their hands in a mass effect field restraint around their wrists before standing behind them and pushing them forward.

Actina looked at Aaron with concern. All he could do is look down and keep moving forward. The lights went out in the school, it wasn't long before the raiders turned on their lights, when the woman looked back, the two teens were gone.

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter, sorry it took so long, got caught up at work later than expected but I'm having so much fun with this. As always constructive criticism is not only welcome it's encouraged so I know what to fix next time to give you guys a better story!**


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